Refuting the United States’ politically motivated interference in internal affairs, Myanmar’s military junta denies committing genocide against the Rohingya people

(Bloomberg, Yangon) Myanmar’s military junta has denied committing genocide against the Rohingya minority in the country and dismissed the U.S. claim as “politically motivated” and “tantamount to interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign country.”

Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Tuesday saying that "Myanmar has never engaged in any genocidal act" and has no "genocidal intention" against any group.

U.S. Secretary of State Blinken stated on the 21st that the Myanmar military’s atrocities against the Rohingya people were “widespread and orderly” and had a clear intention to eliminate this ethnic minority. Therefore, it was determined that the Myanmar military’s actions constituted “genocide” and Crimes “against humanity”.

Myanmar's armed forces launched a military operation in 2017, forcing at least 730,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Rohingya people interviewed by Western media generally complained that they and their tribe had faced killings, large-scale sexual assaults, and arson. Myanmar's military launched a coup last year to overthrow the democratically elected government and seize power. It has been in power ever since.

Blinken said Washington concluded that the atrocities committed by the Tatmadaw constituted a crime of "genocide" based on the State Department's factual assessment and legal analysis, but Myanmar's Foreign Ministry dismissed the report as using unreliable and unverifiable sources and generalizations. accusations.

Myanmar’s shadow government calls on the United States to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Court of Justice
Before Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement, Myanmar's shadow government, the "Government of National Unity," welcomed the U.S. characterization and called on the United States to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.

The West African country Gambia filed a lawsuit with the United Nations International Court of Justice on November 11, 2019, accusing the Myanmar government of violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by direct actions and indirect connivance against the Rohingya community.

Before Myanmar's military seized power, Myanmar's formerly democratically elected government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, lodged preliminary objections to the lawsuit filed by The Gambia. However, the National Unity Government, made up of Myanmar's pro-democracy groups and civilian government officials remaining after the military's coup, withdrew those initial objections early last month and accepted the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice to hear the lawsuit.